First national CCIO announced

NEWS - eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth

Lara Hopley is the inaugural Chief Clinical Informatics Officer (CCIO) for Te Whatu Ora – Health New Zealand.

The CCIO will provide clinical direction into the development and delivery of clinical informatics strategy, products and services across the health sector.

Hopley is an anaesthetist and currently clinical advisor to digital innovations at Te Whatu Ora Waitematā. As part of the Covid-19 response she led the clinical design of the Border Clinical Management System and she was the winner of the Clinical Informatics Leadership Award in 2020.

She says she is “excited” to take on the new role and there will be a lot to do.

“By establishing this role, our leaders have endorsed the idea that we need to build bridges between informatics, clinical medicine and management,” she says.

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Hopley will continue to do one day a week of clinical anaesthesia, connecting her to the actual use of information systems within the health environment.

She highlighted how hard the interim chief data and digital Stuart Bloomfield worked to establish the role of CCIO in Te Whatu Ora.

“He has shown extraordinary skill at building partnerships between clinicians, administrators, experts at privacy and security, project managers, innovators and many others. This role is a reflection of his proficiency,” she says.

Hopley adds that the appointment also represents a strong message to health sector providers and everyone who wants the best thing for whānau.

“The way to get there is to invest in connecting teams, and in every team we need at least one person who can swim comfortably in both clinical medicine and the world of information, data and improvement,” she explains.

Read more about Lara Hopley in this profile on eHealthNews.nz.

Picture: CCIO Lara Hopley

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